TypeTalk: Best Headline Breaks

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Q. Should I pay attention to how a headline breaks, or is that the job of the writer and copy editor?

A. Today, a designer is also the typesetter, so you’re responsible not only for how the type looks, but for making it as readable, logical, and clear as possible. The line breaks of a headline have a major impact on this.

When a headline or subhead is more than one line long, it will break. If you leave these line breaks up to software, you often get text that doesn’t read well or look as good as it could. You need to review all heads and subheads and make manual breaks for both sense and balance.

Breaking for sense means reading the copy and making line breaks where you might logically pause when reading it aloud. This includes keeping adjectives with their nouns, breaking after punctuation, keeping proper names or hyphenated words on one line, etc. In addition, avoid hyphenation in heads and subheads, as it reduces readability, which is critical when trying to capture your audience before they turn the page or look away.

Figure 1. The upper setting of this ad copy has poor and unnatural line breaks that are very noticeable when you read it aloud. The subject and verb (you’ll and find) shouldn’t break, and the proper name of the University shouldn’t be hyphenated nor broken into two lines. Below it is the better solution, with the line breaking after the comma which keeps the subject and verb together, and the name of the university kept together and without any hyphenation. Set in Slate Condensed.

Breaking for balance means avoiding widows, very short lines, and extremely unbalanced line widths.

Figure 2. This book subtitle has bad line breaks in the upper setting, as it not only divides two important phrases, but ends in a very short line, all of which reduce its impact and readability. The solution below it makes more sense and is more visually balanced. Set in Neutraface Condensed Titling.

Ilene Strizver is a noted typographic educator, author, designer and founder of The Type Studio in Westport, Connecticut. Her book, Type Rules! The designer’s guide to professional typography, is now in its 4th edition.
  • Anonymous says:

    I love the fact that on my browser, with default settings, the word “this” at the end of the first paragraph is set nowhere near the rest of the paragraph… is that done with and tag

  • Anonymous says:

    How would you break 2nd example if you were limited to just 2 lines? If breaking on two lines, how important is it that the bottom line be longer than top line? Important enough to break the rule of keeping words together? example: break at “curious” so bottom line is longer than top in a 2 line scenario?

    If it is a subhead in a magazine article – left justified – does that alter decision?

  • Anonymous says:

    I produce a city/regional magazine for a newspaper publisher. My boss (an old-school newpspaper veteran) insists that a line never break after a preposition, and often leaves me saddled with awkward lines. Rewrites are rare. Are there any grammatical or style conventions that support his approach? What would Robert Bringhurst do?

  • Anonymous says:

    When is justification appropriate? My design professor in college told me justification was the devil, along with center alignment. However, a colleague mentioned that his professor told him everything should be justified. (that can’t be right) So when should you? When shouldn’t you? And is there anything we should know?

  • Anonymous says:

    I was trained to break headlines at natural reading pauses. Both examples you give could have been broken better. In the first, the natural reading break was before “at” in the second line. In the second, before “and”. Granted, it might not look quite as nice, but it would read much more naturally.

    Thank you for a wonderful blog. I enjoy reading every week!

  • Anonymous says:

    is there a font that will display the European numbers correctly like the number seven with a bar through it?

  • Anonymous says:

    I produce a city/regional magazine for a newspaper publisher. My boss (an old-school newpspaper veteran) insists that a line never break after a preposition, and often leaves me saddled with awkward lines. Rewrites are rare.
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  • Molly Badgett says:

    The “correct” examples still break after a preposition and a conjunction. Not good practice.

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